On the Thursday after new year’s, I drove to the airport to pick up my cousin and his adult son who are visiting Australia for the first time from Budapest. “It’s so good to be here,” the son beamed, as if he’d already spent weeks thawing out from the Hungarian winter. We ate lunch in a cafe. We made errands to the bank and supermarket. The population is so diverse, the son said later in the afternoon, “Everything feels so peaceful – and everyone is so friendly.” He didn’t need to complete the sentence, “not like in Hungary”.

Department of Home Affairs confirmed the UN High Commissioner for Refugees had referred Ms al-Qunun for potential resettlement in Australia. "The Department of Home Affairs will consider this referral in the usual way, as it does with all UNHCR referrals," it said in a statement. "The government will be making no further comment on this matter." Ms al-Qunun's case has captivated the world after she was detained by Saudi authorities at Bangkok airport, where she was planning to travel to Australia to seek asylum.

QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY : What other questions would you like me to answer on the podcast? Please let me know in the comments . List the thing that you get done on a successful morning and do those after you do your morning ritual or make them part of it.

Australia Day is the official national day of Australia . Celebrated annually on 26 January, it marks the anniversary of the 1788 arrival of the First Fleet of British ships at Port Jackson, New South Wales

We have our problems, I assured them. A punishing housing market, anxieties about immigration, politicians stoking racial tension … I petered out. “But yes, nothing like Hungary.” Everything’s relative and in recent years, under the leadership of conservative populist Viktor Orban, Hungary is the flag-bearer for strident ant

As if to underscore the idea that everything is relative, we then had what passes for an extreme right-wing rally at St Kilda beach where roughly 100 protesters were outnumbered two-to-one by anti-fascists and the guest of honour was a Queensland senator who bagged all of 19 primary votes at the last election and won notoriety for using the term “final solution” during his maiden speech on migration. The much-publicised “Heil Hitler” saluters seemed to be channelling John Cleese’s goose-stepping schtick. With their body art and beards some of the far-right agitators resembled inner-city hipsters, which is possibly revealing.

ICC announces 15-day corruption amnesty

The ICC has announced a 15-day amnesty for those who have failed to report corruption in cricket in Sri Lanka, warning of five-year bans if they fail to come clean. A host of scandals have rocked Sri Lankan cricket in recent years, including a match-fixing controversy revealed in a sting operation carried out for a TV documentary. The ICC anti-corruption unit has regularly investigated cases in the island nation. A spokesman for the sport's governing body said the amnesty will run from January 16-31.

Asked if he feels his 2016 Australia Day message might have been unduly provocative to proud Australians who are neither racist nor radically patriotic , Chun says Australia Day can be enjoyed with vulgar complicity or contrived ignorance, but the ritual is fraudulent and completely indefensible.

In her introductory book But is it Art? Cynthia Freeland suggests that there is a theory of art called the ritual theory of art. She even lists it along with such better-recognized theories as the expression theory and the imitation theory. This is quite surprising since one does not come upon this phrase regularly.

In a subsequent interview with The Age, Neil Erikson, co-organiser of the rally with Blair Cottrell, vaguely conceded that the real aim of the Third Reich fetishists was “Reclaiming St Kilda” – from inner-city lefties. “They try to do the most offensive thing,” he explained, “To troll the left.” Maybe some of the thugs genuinely believed that with a bit of grunt the rally could have turned into Cronulla redux. But while St Kilda beach has been the scene of some brutal violence from African youths, this mob weren’t “reclaiming” the epicentres of the Sudanese crime wave in Melbourne’s west and outer east, where the victims include law-abiding Sudanese. For all their paramilitary messaging, the United Patriots Front are basically chicken. Even vegan.

I’m not being flippant about the racist menace and thankfully neither were the politicians across the spectrum who unequivocally called out the protesters as hate-festers. When Scott Morrison condemned “ugly racial protests” I felt immediate relief that he did not repeat Donald Trump’s assertion in the bloody aftermath of the Charlottesville rally, where a woman was killed by a neo-Nazi’s car, that there were “very fine people on both sides”, meaning among both the white supremacists and the counter demonstrators. But then I was immediately melancholy at having felt relief that Morrison denied succour to racists because it brought home just how much my expectations of basic humanity from our leaders have been managed down.

Comment- Everyone gets a gold star: Our boys are learning lots by playing men

Here's our (modified) junior report of day three : Our boys tried their best and behaved in a way to make their mums and dads proud. Lunch was delicious. The day started very hot but became very cool. Thirty-six thousand family and friends turned up to watch. The charity fund-raising drive was an exceptional success, and thanks to all for that. It’s been great for our kids to get some valuable experience in men’s cricket, and we look forward to one day graduating from the junior format.

The Guardian view on Australia Day : we need to debate our history, not deny it | Editorial. “To those who are suggesting that we change the date, for those who are suggesting we hold this event on another date, this country does not deserve a day of national celebration in any capacity,” he says.

Because rituals are so prevalent we often miss them, especially those we undertake ourselves. Finding rituals in your category starts with looking at the reasons for buying, the path-to-purchase and the customer journey, to understand where a ritual consumer behaviour may exist.

Still, it’s relative, and my relatives are relieved they’ll be absent for a looming showdown in Hungary, a showdown not as remote from our own dramas as it might appear.

After winning three consecutive terms campaigning against immigration, Orban is finally encountering serious dissent and both his government and its opponents see the fight as emblematic of the wider global conflict between nativists and internationalists. Unions are calling for a national strike on January 19 over a new “slave law” that allows employers to request up to 400 hours of overtime a year from their workers.

A Hungarian government spokesman said his country was under attack “because it stands in the way of the whole pro-immigration politics”. One independent politician countered that “the world cannot belong to the populists, Hungary cannot belong to Viktor Orban".

The government attributes the civil unrest to a nefarious conspiracy orchestrated by the Jewish globalist and billionaire George Soros, a hooked-nose villain for all seasons and also for Donald Trump. (Most recently Trump said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if Soros was funding the migrant caravan from Mexico.)

Are Elly and Chloe falling in love on Neighbours?

Chloe has kept secret her true feelings for Elly for a long time. But confiding in Aaron could prove a costly mistake when he tries to intervene in Neighbours this week. Reeling from Chloe's (April Rose Pengilly) shock admission, Aaron (Matt Wilson) struggles to figure out how to help his sister. But his turmoil worsens when he spots Chloe and Elly (Jodi Anasta) together – their connection is glaringly obvious. However, when Aaron discovers Fay (Zoe Bertram) is in contact with Chloe's ex, Mel, he has a lightbulb moment. He decides to reach out and invite Mel to town.

Scholarly approaches to mysticism include typologies of mysticism and the explanation of mystical states. Since the 19th century, mystical experience has evolved as a distinctive concept. It is closely related to "mysticism" but lays sole emphasis on the experiential aspect

It does not even consider one of the main functions of religious ritual through the ages, not in every culture but certainly in many, a power grab by We do appear to have some kind of innate need for sacred and rituals . Have a look at patriotic parades, national holidays, football games (especially

While overt racism has seeped into the mainstream of several democracies, in Australia it’s largely confined to fringe dwellers such as Cottrell, the misogynist body builder with a thing for Hitler. Note my qualifier, “largely confined".

One of the Orban government’s anti-immigration billboards from 2015 read: “If you come to Hungary don’t take the jobs of Hungarians!” The sentiment recalls then immigration minister Peter Dutton’s 2016 remark about innumerate and illiterate refugees “taking Australian jobs”. And Orban’s warning about immigrants bringing an increase in crime (a statement without factual basis) echoes in Dutton’s comment a year ago that Victorians “are scared to go out to restaurants” because of “African gang violence” – the kind of talk that emboldens right-wing extremists.

The difference between the two countries is the difference between a racial slur muttered by a minister as a nasty aside, a slur that can be subsequently disavowed by the minister or his colleagues, and racism as official policy broadcast by megaphone. The difference is both slight and huge.

As the now ritual venting about national identity hots up ahead of Australia Day, I feel more nervous about the country’s democratic health than my Hungarian relatives might appreciate. Yet as with most things, perspective brings gratitude.

Julie Szego is a regular columnist.

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